


Unexpected Delays

by Mariabella Baggins (AgentFrostbite)



Series: The Dragon Riders of Middle Earth [7]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Attempted Murder, Author makes her own canon, Bella has a continuing inability to tell Thorin said things, Bella needs to tell Thorin THINGS, Dorks in Love, F/M, Female Bilbo Baggins, Female Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield, Female Ori, Flirting, Gen, Gerontius is a Clever Hobbit, Ori Is A Sweetheart, Poisoning, This sabetour is less than effective at whacking people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:33:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22177852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentFrostbite/pseuds/Mariabella%20Baggins
Summary: As the endgame closes in, the stakes get higher. Bella has things she must tell Thorin before they embark on an act of pure treason, but can't decide how or when to say it. Meanwhile, the saboteur who started this isn't quite finished with the line of Durin, and now they have a much larger pool of targets to pick.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield
Series: The Dragon Riders of Middle Earth [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1341334
Kudos: 80
Collections: One Two Switcheroo





	Unexpected Delays

**Author's Note:**

> So, as it turns out, being on bed rest for wisdom teeth removal is a SPLENDID motivator for getting the thing written. Yay!
> 
> I would like to take a moment and thank everyone who's commented on this series so far. Your thoughts keep this thing alive, spark new ideas, and brighten my day every time I read them. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
> 
> I also want to thank everyone who's left kudos and read and re-read these fics. I'm glad y'all seem to be enjoying these so much, and it makes the story so much richer and raises the stakes. You guys inspire me to be a better writer.
> 
> As the summary says, we're nearing the endgame. I know y'all are looking forward to seeing Thorin and his family react to Bella being a Fae Queen, and I promise you'll get it. I just needed something between to make the admittance a little more messy and remind everyone (mostly including myself) that there's still a mean person running around maybe-maybe not trying to kill the Durins. I'll have the next installment up by Sunday, unless my teeth distract me, since it's already written out. See you then!

"Thorin, we need to talk," Bella started seriously. She tried to school her expression into one of regal neutrality, and it lasted a grand total of three seconds before she let it drop. "No, too formal." She inhaled, composing herself and trying for a more casual expression. "Thorin, do you have a moment?" Her mirror reflection blinked back at her, and she looked to Twilight, snoozing by the roaring fire that someone came in to feed every so often. "It's not _bad_ , but it's not…" Bella ran her fingers through her tousled curls. "Oh, I'm overthinking this!" she moaned.

Twilight snuffled and shuffled, standing and turning in a circle, before curing back up in front of the fire, back to the flames. Lucky, meanwhile, was on the stones directly in front of the fireplace, nose pressed against the grate. Bella watched them both for a moment, a wearied yet fond smile overtaking her face. Twilight had been very accepting of her new brother, even letting him use her as a sort of bed. Lucky seemed to constantly run cold and was always tucked up against the warmest thing he could find. Sometimes it was Twilight, sometimes it was Bella, but more often than not, it was the nearest fireplace.

Come to think of it, the whole heat thing might've been why he was so intent on curling up on Thorin. She remembered from the two flights they'd shared that he radiated heat like a furnace, and while Bella always preferred a crisper temperature, she certainly didn't mind being so close to that warmth…

She shook herself with a short sigh. "I don't think it's quite a good idea to be having those thoughts before I've told him," she muttered. Twilight lifted her head, watching her rider through half-lidded, sleepy eyes. "You two have got it easy. All you've got to worry about is keeping me safe and tricking me out of as many fish as you can." Twilight purred, and Bella knelt beside her, stroking the black dragon's head. Twilight continued purring and rested her head in Bella's lap, causing the Hobbit to smile. "Sweet thing… Oh, I'm just going to have to say it, aren't I? I'm going to have to walk up and take him by the hand, lead him to another room, and say 'Thorin-'"

The door opened to reveal none other than the source of her worries, who paused upon seeing the moment and Bella's rather odd and guilty expression. He said nothing, and she stood – Twilight had lifted her head and come to full alert with the sound of the great stone door – and smoothed out her dress, like that did anything to hide her anxiety, or ease the overall awkwardness of the situation. "How long were you outside listening?" Bella asked.

Thorin cleared his throat, closing the door and regaining most of his composure. "I wasn't," he answered.

"Good," Bella remarked. "I sounded like a loon."

He blinked again, this time out of confusion. "A…what?"

"Do you not have that saying?" she asked, pure confusion coloring her tone. Thorin only shook his head. "Goodness, what _do_ you Dwarves call each other?"

Now he grinned, slipping into a persona Bella had never seen before. It was charming and honest, and that smile did things to Bella's sensibility that she both did and didn't want to think about. "Nothing that should be said in front of a lady," he answered in a mirthful tone. The smile dropped slightly as he looked her over. "How did you sleep?"

"Well enough, I suppose," Bella answered honestly, setting about tidying up the spotless room. Neither remarked on the awkwardness of the silence or the somewhat casual feel that was too natural for two sort-of strangers. "I'm not used to keeping time without birdsong or sunlight, so I've had to rely on Twilight as my morning alarm." Bella fluffed out one of the quilts piled on the end of the bed, and looked up at no particular point in front of her. "Remind me to make a notation in the Night Fury Guide: Certain Night Furies are _not_ to be relied upon as morning alarms."

He chuckled, and something inside Bella that hadn't been awoken since she was a teen stirred at the sound. She did her best to shove it away. Any crushes, twitterings, or otherwise romantic feelings had to wait until after she told him. Silence descended upon the room again, though this one was slightly more comfortable. "Your grandfather remarked that you seemed tense as of late," Thorin said, getting to the heart of his visit. Bella's fingers froze over the pillowcase. "He suggested you might explain what is bothering you if you had someone outside your usual circle to speak to."

She fluffed the pillow and then turned to Thorin. Those piercing blue eyes of his stared directly into her emerald green ones, and she had to shift her gaze to the bridge of his nose in order to avoid stalling out her mind. "There are two things you must know about my grandfather – and this applies well to both personal and diplomatic matters. He can figure out, with a starting degree of accuracy, precisely what's bothering anyone with Tookish blood in their veins, and he's rather notorious for sticking his nose in other people's business when it comes to his family and addressing issues. In this particular case…"

Bella looked to the floor at some point in the patterned stone that lay between him and her, and she took a deep breath. Gerontius was telling her to address the issue sooner rather than later, and he was, as he often was, completely right. "I don't suppose there'll be a better time than this," she started.

"Time for what?" Thorin asked, taking a step closer.

"Thorin, I-" she started.

"Thorin!" Dis's alarmed call cut off the conversation, and quick as a Speed Stinger – well, perhaps not _quite_ as fast – Thorin was out the door and Bella was right behind him. Twilight bolted at the commotion, following her rider, and the three slid into one of the royal chambers to see a golden-haired Dwarf on the floor, convulsing as he stared into the far off ceiling.

The terror in the room was palpable, and Thorin hit the ground beside the young Dwarf hard and fast. "He just looked at me!" The raven-haired Dwarf was kneeling next to whom Bella assumed to be his brother, his eyes wide with pure fear. "He just looked at me and then he went down! I don't know what happened!" The boy reiterated his confusion and how the incident sparked, and Thorin seemed to take no notice as he tried to hold the convulsing one down long enough to get a proper pulse.

Meanwhile, Bella – standing a couple steps off – had the advantage of looking around the room. She noticed an overturned goblet, its contents spilled across the floor, and a half-eaten loaf of bread lying on a plate not far from where the golden-haired Dwarf had collapsed. She picked up the goblet and held it close to her nose. Almost instantly, she was hit with the sharp tang that smelled like fresh berries. It sent a warning to her mind of "Don't touch!" and she only just managed to set the goblet down calmly. Rubbing her fingers across the spilled liquid – wine, yes, but something else not quite right – she brought it close to her lips. With a touch borne only of practice, she lightly painted the liquid onto her lower lip, and wiped it off as soon as her lip started to feel prickly.

Having identified the poison, she quickly crossed the room back to the boy – and he really was young enough to have that title – she weaved between Thorin and Dis and somehow got close enough to see his eyes. "It's water hemlock," Bella announced.

"Save Fili, please! the raven-haired boy begged as he clung to his brother's shoulder. Already, Fili's jagged movements were starting to slow, and Bella looked at Thorin.

It was a rather strange moment, and she'd have time to look back on it once Fili was alright. She knew how to save Fili, but needed an apothecary to do so. She had no idea where it was, and Fili didn't have enough time for her to find it and get what she needed back to the royal chambers. She would have to bring him with her, but she couldn't hold him up and fly Twilight effectively. Somehow, Bella managed to communicate all this to Thorin with a three-second glance, and she was able to determine, from his gaze, that he would come with her, hold Fili, and direct her to the apothecary.

And so that is exactly what they did.

This, too, was strange, but only for the ease with which they worked. Bella stood and stepped away, calling for Twilight with a single, sharp whistle. Thorin picked Fili up, and as soon as Twilight was near, mounted and hauled Fili with him. She leapt into the saddle and tossed back a loose leather strap for him to hang onto. He had it wrapped around Fili's arm and secured at almost the exact moment Twilight shot off down the long, large hallways. He called directions to her, leaning left or right with the anticipation of the counter direction the high speeds would throw him toward. Bella spoke not a word, yet understood every direction clearly.

They landed in the apothecary, to the astonishment and fright of the Dwarves working there. Bella was out of saddle and dashing toward the cabinets before Twilight even came to a proper stop. While Thorin untangled himself and Fili from the leather, then pulled themselves off Twilight's back, he explained everything to the surrounding Dwarves, who were still too uneasy to drop their weapons. Twilight snarled and growled at the swords and axes stuck in her face, but made no move to attack or to stand between Thorin and Fili and the rest of the Dwarves.

Bella, who knew the exact cure by heart, muttered each step in Hobbitish over and over, cementing the process in her mind, which allowed her hands and fingers to work of their own accord. The kettle – which, thank Yavanna, was on and steaming – burned her fingers as she poured the hot water over the mix of leaves and herbs. Once she stirred the tea enough to cool it down so that it wouldn't burn either her hands of poor Fili's throat, she crossed the room in several purposeful strides and knelt beside him with a degree of care she rarely needed to show.

Now, it was a particularly high-stress situation, and certain Hobbits among the mixed-blood Tookish line were known to have some healing powers under high duress, so Bella couldn't be sure of the extremely faint glow of dull green that seemed to come off her fingers and flow into Fili was a product of her stressed imagination or an actual thing she was witnessing. Nevertheless, he was lucid enough that she and Thorin and rather experienced hard-of-hearing healer she'd have to thank later managed to get enough of the tea in him that the convulsions calmed. From there, she left the tea and the task of getting the rest of the cup into Fili to the highly capable hands of Thorin and the healers, and set about making four more mixes of the tea – though she didn't add the water yet because these batches were for later – and only once she'd finished packing them all up correctly did she turn to watch the rest of the scene play out.

As expected, now that he was no longer about to die, Fili started slipping toward sleep. Thorin had a quick and quiet discussion with the healers, and then looked toward her. Bella took it as a sign of "We can go now," and tucked the tea into Twilight's saddlebag. She helped Thorin get Fili mounted, then mounted herself, and the trio took off toward the royal chambers.

The family reunion was heartwarming, and since Bella wasn't family, she gently and quietly herded Twilight back outside. She left the packet of herbs on one of the tables and scribbled out a quick note with instructions on how to use it and when to administer it. Then she and Twilight walked back to her guest quarters. She paused at the door, and Twilight nudged her before looking toward the end of the hallway. The dim light of a cloud-covered sky was only just visible through the distant window, and Bella sighed.

They needed the freedom. She needed to think. She remounted and they shot off down the hallway, gaining speed as they went. The window, as it turned out, was only just large enough to accommodate the dragon and her rider with the former's wings tucked in tight and the latter pressed flat against the former's back. The risky maneuver elicited a whoop of thrill from Bella and a roar of excitement from Twilight. For the next twenty or so minutes, they soared toward the tip-top of the cloud layer and dived so close to the ground that Bella could see rabbits scattering beneath them. They flew loops around nothing, made an extremely quick foray through the pine forest on the slopes of Erebor, practiced tricks that were more foolish daring than honestly useful, and generally let themselves be as carefree as they might've been on a matching, slower day in the Shire.

The flight might've freed the stress of acting and saving people's lives, but it left Bella feeling utterly homesick. Twilight could sense it, and her mood was brought down by it as well. "I'm sorry, honey," Bella apologized to her oldest friend and closest confidant. "I just…I wish I could go back to the way things were before."

Before Erebor, before gold-sickness, before multiple odd assassination attempts.

Before Thorin, with his mesmerizing blue eyes and his wonderous smile and his warmth and his utterly confusing grip over her.

Before her world came undone by finding her Soulmate and having to tell him what she was.

* * *

Ori knew she wasn't supposed to be there. If either of her brothers found out, she'd be grounded for a good long while, probably from the library as well. But she simply could not help herself. There were _dragons_ in Erebor – tamed dragons who'd sit and stay and not try to eat her – and she was a scholar. How could she pass up an opportunity as good as this one?

So she slipped around the guest quarters till she found her way back to the Thain Took's room, and knocked gently. "Come in," he called.

Thorn was sitting near the entrance, and his tail swished back and forth a bit when he saw her. She smiled shyly and reached a hand out to pet him. "Good afternoon, sir," she greeted. The Thain was reading a map of some kind, and he took his spectacles off when she greeted him.

"Good afternoon, Miss Ori," he said. "I see you brought a bigger book this time."

"I wanted to ask about dragon species that might be around this area," she replied. "There's plenty of books in the library about how to deal with them, but very little about their behavior or living habits." She sat in front of the fireplace, and Thorn posed again for her. "Sorry, boy, I'm not drawing today." He looked between her and the Thain, and resumed his pose.

"Well…I suppose we could start with the Boulder Class dragons. They're the ones most likely to be found _inside_ the Mountain," the Thain began. He listed dragon names, she asked questions about this or that, and she jotted down everything he said as quickly and accurately as she could. They spoke for a while, an hour according to her sand timer, and when the little metal ball clinked against the glass neck of the timer, she sighed. "That's a nifty device you have there," the Thain pointed out, gesturing to the timer with his pipe. She looked at it, then back up at him.

"Oh, thank you. My brother, Dori, made it. He's often in the kitchen, and he's gotten good with timing how long it takes certain things to bake. Once he knows a time, he fills one of these up, places a metal ball at the top, and keeps it with him so he'll hear it when the sand runs out," she explained, picking the device up and showing it to him. "I tend to get lost in books and scrolls, and my brothers get worried about me often. They gave me this one so I'll know when to put the book down and head home."

She checked that the ink was dry, then closed her book and stood. "Thank you so much for all of this. I really do enjoy learning about dragons beyond how to…" she trailed off when Thorn blinked at her. "Er, you know."

"I do," the Thain confirmed. "And if you ever wanted to, I could show you how to train a dragon of your own."

Ori's eyes went wide. "M-Me?" she stammered. "Train a dragon? I couldn't!" But the idea certainly was alluring. Imagine, a dragon of her very own. It would be excellent protection, and she'd learn so much. She could get places three times as quickly as she could on foot. To zip off to a place like Dale for a few hours and be back before the sun went down…vanishing into the forest to think alone and draw for a bit without anyone ever knowing…

"Give it some thought," the Thain said.

"I don't have much time to think about it," Ori corrected. "The negotiations are almost over, and you're set to leave the day after tomorrow."

"I have some friends in the forest beyond here. They'll know how to get a message to me. If you decide you'd like to know some more tricks of the trade, just leave a note attached to a pine, and they'll get it to me," he answered. Ori purse her lips, seriously thinking about it, then nodded.

"I will," she confirmed. "Thanks again!" She almost ran into Thorn on her way out, and she gave him a few pets before she slipped out the door and back down the hallway. "My own dragon… Just think!"

The idea was very alluring indeed.


End file.
